FOX 2 catches up with baby born with organs on outside

QUINCY, Ill. – Ten years ago, FOX 2’s team was in the delivery room at Barnes Jewish Hospital for a very tricky birth of a baby with a rare birth defect. Hayden Hoskins was born with an omphalocele. Part of Hoskins’s organs formed on the outside of his abdomen in utero.

An omphalocele affects one in every 5,300 newborns. Hoskins’s parents found out their baby had one during a routine ultrasound.

Andy and Kelsea Hoskins traveled from Quincy, Illinois, to Barnes Jewish and Children’s Hospital in St. Louis because the hospitals have a national reputation for treating omphalocele babies. Our cameras were in the delivery room when Hayden was born.

Doctors and his parents wouldn’t know if the birth defect had affected his breathing until he was born. Hayden went to the NICU at Children’s Hospital, where he needed a little help breathing. He would spend the next five and a half months at home, living with the large growth attached to his stomach area.

Most babies must wait about a month to have corrective surgery, but Hayden was ready early. He had corrective surgery to have his sack of organs put back into his abdomen. Doctors told his parents that their son would grow up to be just like other boys his age and shouldn’t suffer any lasting health effects. They told Andy and Kelsea he could have an issue with hernias at some point, but he’s had no problems since his surgery.

FOX 2 caught up with Hayden and his family for the first time since he was born 10 years ago when he traveled to St. Charles recently for a youth soccer game. Hayden has grown into the picture of a healthy 10-year-old. He is a great soccer and hockey player. He loves to mountain bike. He’s so smart, he even skipped a grade in school. Hayden speaks about his condition as a baby very casually.

The only reminders he has are a scar on his stomach and a recording of FOX 2’s story on his complicated birth. He and his family watch the video each year on his birthday. Andy and Kelsea said it was a way to remind them how far they’ve come over the last 10 years and how grateful they are.